Thread guide



W. L. PERRY THREAD GUIDE Feb. 19, 1952 Filed Dec. 24, 1949 ,i jj 'I IIIIIIIII d WMZ/IWW Lay im jj Patented Feb. 19, 1,952

THREAD GUIDE Winthrop L. Perry, Wilton, N. H., assignor, byv

mesne assignments, to Abbott Worsted Mills, Incorporated, Wilton, N. H., a corporation of New Hampshire Application December 24, 1949, Serial No. 134,997

Y 1 Claim.

This invention relatest to thread guides for textile machines adapted for self-threading of a whirling running strand such as the ballooning thread in such machines as spinning, twisting or winding machines.

YIn vring spinning or twisting, if the winding bobbin is rotated in a counterclockwise direction, the balloon of the spinning thread running toward the traveler whirls in a counterclockwise direction as Viewed from above, and when such bobbin, which has been so rotated during the spinning or twisting is later used as a supply as in rewinding in a winding machine, and the thread is drawn off overend therefrom, the balloon of unwinding thread will also whirl in a counterclockwise direction. On the other hand, if the bobbin is rotated in a clockwise direction in spinning, the balloon of spinning thread will whirl in a counterclockwise direction, and later when such bobbin is used as a, supply, the thread drawn oi overend therefrom, the balloon of unwinding thread will also whirl in a clockwise direction.

However generally a strand guide arranged for self-threading by a whirling strand in a machine such as a spinning, twisting or winding machine will only be self-threading as to thread whirling in one particular direction of rotation, that is, clockwise or counterclockwise. Thus as a practical matter a change from counterclockwise rotation to clockwise rotation in spinning would normally entail considerable work in changing such strand guides in the spinning machines and also in winding machines used for rewinding from the bobbins from the spinning machines. This difliculty is avoided by my invention in which provision is made for easy shifting of a strand guide to accommodate either direction of whirling of the strand.

Although applicable generally to whirling strands in such operations as spinning, twisting or winding, the invention will for simplicity be described as applied to a winding machine such as shown in United States Patent No. 2,286,189, as a substitute for the balloon controlling device 30 of that patent.

In the drawings,

Fig. l is a left side elevation of the lower portion of a single unit of a traveling spindle winding machine similar to that of said Patent No. 2,286,189, showing the present invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1,A showing the strand guide in position to accommodate a counterclockwise whirling balloon of thread;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing thev Fig. 5 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4.

The winding machine shown in Fig. 1 includes a vertical frame element I I carrying near its lower end a bracket I2 from `which extends a pegv I3 adapted to receive the supply bobbin I4 from which the thread T is unwound. The thread T runs generally upwardly in the form of a whirling balloon, through eye 3|, more particularly described below, then through a suitable tension device I 5 and over a cover plate I6 onto the windingpackage, not shown.

The eye 3I is formed as the outer end 'of an` arm indicated generally at 32, and defines a generally circular passage for the whirling thread,. conning and guiding the thread, the middle of e the central passage of the eye being generally in prolongation of the bobbin I 4 although not necesi sarily exactly so.

As will be seen from Fig. 2, the eye 3I is provided with an entrance adapted to allow a whirling thread to thread itself into the eye. lAs ar ranged in Fig. 2, theeye will thus receive auto,

matically a counterclockwise whirling thread that runs around the outside of the eye until threaded into the eye by encountering the outer portion of arm 32. Fig. 3 shows the same eye after having been rotated to a reverse position, bottom-sideup, approximately from its position of Fig. 2 and now arranged to receive a clockwise whirling thread in a similar manner. The axis of the central passage of the eye is substantially in the same location in the two positions of Fig. 2 and Fig. 3.

The eye 3I can be of more complicated structure than shown in the drawings, but the eye should be constructed so that in one position, such for instance as in Fig. 2, a, counterclockwise whirling thread can thread itself into the eye, and so that in a reversed position of the eye, approximately 180 from such one position, a clockwise whirling thread can thread itself in the eye.

As shown in Fig. 5 the arm 32 includes a rear portion 32a, a laterally extending portion 321, and an offset outer portion 32, this outer portion 32 merging into the eye 3| as shown in Fig. 2.

The mounting for the eye 3| includes a cylindrical casing I8 in which the rear portion 32a of arm 32 is rotatably mounted, the axis of rotation of the arm approximately intersecting the middle of the eye, so that the arm 32 and its eye 3| can be rotated from the position of Fig. 2 to the position of Fig. 3. The arm and eye are detained against the tendency of the unbalanced weight of the oiset portion 32c to rotate the eye into a vertical plane, incapable of receiving a whirling thread. For this purpose the outer end of casing I8 is formed with stop shoulders such as shown at I8n and I8b, shoulder I8a being adapted to support the offset portion 32B in the position of Fig. 2, as better shown in Fig. 4, and shoulder I8b being adapted to support the oiset portion 32a in the other operating position of the eye shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 2 or that of Fig. 3, the eye is preferably positively indexed in its two positions. For this purpose the casing I8 is preferably provided with two further shoulders I8c and I8d, which together with shoulders I8 and I8b define slots for receiving the laterally extending portion 32b of arm 3 2 in the two operating positions of the eye. A rm 32 is urged rearwardly or to the left in Figs. 1 and 5 by a compression spring 3G which acts upon the arm through a cap 3T and a cotter pin 38. The arm can be manually pulled forward from its normal position shown in the drawings to disengage its laterally extending portion 32b from the shoulders I8a and I8c or I8b and I8d as the case may be, and then turned to the opposite position, whereupon it will snap backwardly into place and remain there, held by the spring 36.

To change from counterclockwise to clockwise rotation of the whirling thread, or vice versa, the several eyes of the machine can be quickly turned to either the position of Fig. 2 or the position of Fig. 3 from the opposite position.

The casing I8 or equivalent mounting for the eye can be held in any suitable manner by an adjacent element of the machine, and may be pivotally held so as to permit the eye to be swung out of the way of the bobbin, to facilitate change of bobbins. As shown, the casing I8 is secured to a supporting wire I9 having a laterally bent portion I9 that is pivotally supported in holes in the upright I I of the winding unit; With this construction the wire I9 is normally supported by a pin I9b in the operating level shown. Wire I9 may carry a rearwardly extending piece |99, welded thereto, to serve as a crank arm for raising the eye in connection with the use of an automatic bobbin supplying mechanism as explained in said Patent No. 2,286,189.

I claim:

A strand guidelfor textile machines comprising an arm and a mounting therefor, the arm being rotatable about its axis and longitudinally movable in the mounting, the arm being bent to provide a laterally extending portion and a longitudinally extending oiTset outer portion, such outer portion having thereon an eye having a central passage for a whirling strand, the mounting having recesses to receive the laterally extending portion of the arm in two positions of the arm to vindex the eye in two positions approximately apart, and a spring biasing the arm to urge the laterally extending portion thereof to seat in one or the other of said recesses, the arm being releasable from such seating by longitudinal shifting in opposition to said spring and being rotatable about its axis from one such position to the other while under the biasing force of the spring, so that upon approximately 180 rotation of the arm from one of such positions, the spring then seats the arm in said other position, the eye being self-threading as to clockwise whirling thread in one of said positions and being self-threading as to counterclockwise whirling thread in the other of said positions.

WINTHROP L. PERRY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 730,492 Tideman June 9, 1903 849,809 Palmer Apr. 9, 1907 1,044,068 Merritt NOV. 12, 1912 1,385,066 Ayres July 19, 1921 2,023,179 McI-Iale Dec. 3, 1935 2,152,136 Cass Mar. 28, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 269,348 Great Britain Apr. 21, 1927 

